JASON Defense Advisory Group

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JASON is an independent group of scientists that advises the U.S. government on matters of science and technology. The group was first created as a way to get a younger generation of scientists — that is, not the older Los Alamos and MIT Radiation Laboratory alumni — involved in advising the government. It was established in 1960 and has somewhere between 30 and 60 members.

For administrative purposes, Jason's activities are run through the MITRE Corporation, a non-profit corporation in McLean, Virginia that contracts with the defense department.

Jason typically performs most of its work during an annual summer study. Its sponsors include the Department of Defense (frequently DARPA and the U.S. Navy), the Department of Energy, and the U.S. intelligence community. Most of the resulting Jason reports are classified.

The name "JASON" is sometimes explained as an acryonym, standing either for "July-August-September-October-November", the months in which the group would typically meet; or, tongue-in-cheek, for "Junior Achiever, Somewhat Older Now". But neither explanation is right and in fact, the name is not an acronym at all. It's simply a reference to the Greek myth, Jason. The wife of one of the founders (Mildred Goldberger [1]) thought the name given by the defense department, Project Sunrise, was unimaginative and suggested the group be named for a hero and his search.

Jason studies have included a now-mothballed system for communicating with submarines using extremely long radio waves (Project Seafarer, Project Sanguine); an astronomical technique for overcoming the atmosphere's distortion; the many problems of missile defense; technologies for verifying compliance with treaties banning nuclear tests; and most controversially, during the Vietnam War, a system of computer-linked sensors that became the precursor to the electronic battlefield.

Contents

[edit] Membership

Jason members all have security clearances and consist of physicists, biologists, chemists, oceanographers, mathematicians, and computer scientists. They are selected for their scientific brilliance, and over the years, have included eleven Nobel Prize laureates and several dozen members of the National Academy of Science.

The following is a list of members, past and present, who have been publicly identified as Jasons or whose names appear as authors on Jason studies. Since not all study authors are members of Jason, and since Jason does not give out its membership list, the only way to verify the following list is to ask the individual Jasons.

Roy Schwitters - Head of Jason, as of 2004.

[edit] Controversy

In 2002, Democratic Congressman Rush Holt of New Jersey sent letters to key members of the House of Representatives to protest DARPA's decision to fire Jason.

DARPA not only sponsored many of Jason's studies, it was also the channel through which Jason's other sponsors funded Jason. DARPA's decision came after Jason's refusal to allow DARPA to select three new Jason members, none of whom fit the membership criterion of academic excellence. Since Jason's birth, its current members have selected its new members. "This selection process maintains Jason's autonomy," Holt wrote, "and ensures that their decisions are not based on any obligation to the Department of Defense. Allowing the Department of Defense to choose JASON's members would compromise the objectivity and independence of the group's advice." Since 2002, funding has been secured from an office higher in the defense hierarchy, the office of the Director of Defense Research and Engineering.

[edit] Research

A selection of recent Jason studies is offered below. They can be found in an online archive at the Federation of American Scientists [3].

  • NIF Ignition (June 2005)
  • Tactical Infrasound (May 2005)
  • High Performance Biocomputation (March 2005)
  • Sensors to Support the Soldier (Feb. 2005)
  • Horizontal Integration: Broader Access Models for Realizing Information Dominance
  • Active Sonar Waveform, (June 2004)
  • The Computational Challenges of Medical Imaging, (February 2004)
  • Requirements for ASCI, (October 2003)
  • Portable Energy for the Dismounted Soldier, (June 2003)
  • Turbulent Boundary Layer Drag Reduction, (May 2003)
  • High Power Lasers, (April 2003)
  • Biodetection Architectures, (February 2003)
  • Opportunities at the Intersection of Nanoscience, Biology and Computation, (November 2002)
  • Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program, (April 2002)
  • Non-GPS Methods of Geolocation, (January 2002)
  • Biofutures, (June 2001)
  • Spintronics, (February 2001)
  • Advantage of Base-Line Redundancy in Sparse Apertures, (September 2000)
  • Space Infrastructure for 2020, (September 2000)
  • Imaging Infrared Detectors II, (June 2000)
  • Molecular Electronics: Interfacing the Nano- and Micro-Worlds, (May 2000)
  • Power Sources for Ultra Low Power Electronics, (June 2000)
  • 100 LBS TO Low Earth Orbit (LEO): Small-Payload Launch Options, (January 2000)
  • Data Mining and the Human Genome (January 2000)
  • Primary Performance Margins (December 1999) (unclassified introduction)
  • System-Level Flight Tests, December 1999)
  • Remanufacture (of Nuclear Weapons), (October 1999)
  • Army Battlefield Communications (September 1999)
  • Characterization of Underground Facilities (April 1999)
  • Non-destructive Evaluation and Self-Monitoring Materials (April 1999)
  • Electro Thermal Chemical Gun Technology Study (March 1999)
  • Small Unit Operations (June 1998)
  • Signatures of Aging Revisited (March 1998)
  • Signatures of Aging [of nuclear weapons] (January 1998)
  • Counterproliferation (January 1998)
  • High Energy Density Explosives (October 1997)
  • Human Genome Project (October 1997)
  • Small Scale Propulsion: Fly on the Wall, Cockroach in the Corner, Rat in the Basement, etc.
  • Subcritical Experiments (March 1997)
  • Quantum Computing (July 1996)
  • Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) Review (March 1996)
  • DNA Computing (October 1995)
  • Nuclear Testing: Summary and Conclusions (August 1995)
  • Microsurveillance of the Urban Battlefield (February 1995)
  • JASON Global Grid Study (July 1992)
  • Small Satellites (August 3, 1991)
  • Verification Technology: Unclassified Version (October 1990)
  • Neutrino Detection Primer (March 1988)
  • Sonic Boom Report (November 1978)
  • Laser Propulsion Study (Summer 1977)
  • Tactical Nuclear Weapons in Southeast Asia (March 1967)

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

  • Ann Finkbeiner, The Jasons : The Secret History of Science's Postwar Elite, Viking/Penguin , April 6, 2006, ISBN 0-670-03489-4
  • John Horgan, Rent-a-Genius, New York Times Book Review, [4], April 16, 2006.

[edit] External links

The Federation of American Scientists link has reliable information:

Also reliable is this site from the Nautilus Institute:

Online version of booklet written 1972 by physicist and anti-war activist, Charles Schwartz, and the Berkeley-based Scientists and Engineers for Social and Political Action:

NB: Much of the rest of what's on the internet about Jason is a mix of fact, conjecture, and pure fantasy.

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